Marvel’s The Defenders: Everything You Need To Know

Everything We Know About Marvel’s Superhero Mash-Up Series The Defenders

Marvel’s The Defenders has got comic book and TV fans all charged up for summer. Why? The TV show will do what Marvel has been planning since the release of the first Daredevil season back in 2015. That is, bring together all four of Netflix’s Marvel superheroes for an explosive joint super-series. It’s basically the Marvel TV Universe version of what the first Avengers film did for the Cinematic Universe. And, with four fully fleshed out superheroes running around and kicking ass all over New York City, it’s going to be wild.

It’s the culmination of Marvel’s TV Universe

The Defenders unites the comic book company’s four current TV heroes – Charlie Cox as Matt “Daredevil” Murdock, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Finn Jones as Danny “Iron Fist” Rand – as a super-team. With the stakes raised, can the arse-kicking quartet save their city? As the teaser trailer ominously says: “You think the four of you can save New York? You can’t even save yourselves.”

It’s the end of phase one

Jon Bernthal in Daredevil

Four standalone series followed by The Defenders was always the plan when the Marvel/Netflix deal was announced three years ago. But that doesn’t mean this will bring down the curtain. They’ve already squeezed in an unexpected second season of Daredevil. A third, along with second seasons for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, has already been confirmed. So is Frank “The Punisher” Castle’s own spin-off, starring Jon Bernthal as the head-cracking vigilante. So rest assured, Marvel TV treats will keep coming for the next 18 months at least.

Iron Fist is the newbie

Iron Fist

On 17 March, Netflix viewers get introduced to Iron Fist. His 13-part series tells the story of billionaire Buddhist monk, kung-fu fighter and “human weapon” Danny Rand (played by Londoner Finn Jones – best known as Loras Tyrell in Game Of Thrones). Presumed dead for 15 years, he returns to New York to reclaim his family business. He’s soon torn between running the company and crime-fighting, for which he draws extra powers from a mystical artefact called, you guessed it, the Iron Fist. “Feel the fire of the fist…”

The Defenders’ first meeting will be explosive

Set a few months after the events of Daredevil season two, The Defenders sees each of the foursome investigating a mystery separately, gradually converging on the offices of shady corporation Midland Circle. Cue a huge corridor brawl. As showrunner Marco Ramirez says: “They follow their own trail of breadcrumbs but we wanted them all caught off-guard. Once they're in that room together, it's kind of like, 'Oh, shit, who are you?’” The foursome will then unite to face a threat that’s too big for them to fight individually. Gulp.

Sigourney Weaver is the villain

Defenders

Veteran actress Sigourney Weaver, aka the iconic Ripley from the Alien film series, lends serious star power as the series antagonist, currently known only as Alexandra. Word is, she’s a powerful force in NYC – smart, sophisticated and dangerous. Some fans suspect she’ll be Viper, aka Madame Hydra: a terrorist supervillain with ties to ninja crime syndicate The Hand, who has fought both Daredevil and Iron Fist in the comics. Either way, she’ll need to pose a serious enough threat to pull the four heroes from their individual worlds to work together.

Don’t mention The Avengers

Marvel TV vice-president Jeph Loeb has warned against "easy comparisons" to The Avengers: “The Defenders don’t have a 'D' on their belt buckles or a Defenders Tower. The sky's not going to open up and aliens aren't going to come flying out of it. That's the Avengers' job. The street level heroes always come from a very real place. The Avengers are here to save the universe. The Defenders are here to save the neighbourhood.”

Super-sparks will fly

Rumours are that blind lawyer Daredevil and troubled private eye Jessica Jones will have a particularly fiery relationship. They’re both stubborn, while she’s a reluctant superhero and has trouble letting three strange men into her life. Crime-fighting ex-con Luke Cage will act as a peace-maker between them.

There’s a mentor-pupil relationship

The Defenders

Street-savvy Cage, aka Power Man, also becomes a mentor to Iron Fist, the youngest Defender. Mike Colter calls it a "a cool combination with a wisdom-versus-youth quality” It’s a knowing nod to the pair's relationship in 1978 Marvel comic Heroes For Hire – sparking rumours that the double act could eventually get their own series too.

Film crossovers could be in the pipeline

So far, the Netflix series’ hasn’t tied in with their Marvel film siblings, bar odd dark mentions of “the incident” – meaning the attack on New York in Avengers Assemble. Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that if the characters prove popular on Netflix, “it’s quite possible that they could become feature films”. Actor Vincent D’Onofrio, who plays Daredevil villain Wilton Fisk aka The Kingpin, has hinted that “after the series stuff with Netflix, Marvel has a bigger plan to branch out”. Hmm, intriguing. For now, though, they share the same universe but film and TV remain separate.

There will be cameos

Elodie Yung in Daredevil

Characters from all four individual series will float in and out of Defenders – notably the mysterious Elektra Natchios (played by French actress Élodie Yung), aka Black Sky, who reprises her role from Daredevil. Also popping up are lawyer Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss), detective Misty Knight (Simone Missick), nurse Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) and sensei Stick (Scott Glen). As in all the Marvel series, the legendary Stan Lee will make a sly cameo via an on-set photograph.

It’s directed by a Brit

The Defenders

The opening two episodes are stylishly helmed by SJ Clarkson: a fast-rising female director who cut her teeth on homegrown shows like Hustle and Life On Mars, and co-created Mistresses – before heading to the US to direct episodes of Orange Is the New Black, Banshee, Vinyl, Heroes and House. Clarkson also directed the first double bill of Jessica Jones, the most critically acclaimed of the Marvel series so far, so we’re in safe hands.

It’s the Olympics meets hip-hop

The Defenders

Marvel bigwig Loeb has compared the Defenders’ dynamic to the Olympics, where "you get to know all of these athletes in their various sports all throughout their careers – then once every four years, they get together and compete against each other.” Meanwhile, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker likened the series to the formation of the Wu-Tang Clan. Boom.